Booze tax 'would increase drinking'

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The policy is more likely to increase - rather than reduce - binge drinking, it was also claimed.

This week, the Conservative Party will unveil plans to add about 7p to the cost of a pint, 15p to a bottle of wine and 25p to a bottle of whisky. The tax hike is intended to tackle binge drinking and the money raised would be used to address drug and alcohol abuse.

But those working in the licensed trade said it would do nothing to achieve its aims and would instead threaten the livelihood of licensees.

Tony Payne, chief executive of the Federation of Licensed Victuallers Association, said: "It will do nothing because where is the cheap booze coming from - it's supermarkets where you can buy a pint for 50p. What will an extra 7p mean? Nothing.

"All you will do is drive more people to the supermarkets where the beer, wine and vodka is cheap and make more pubs close. It will do nothing to solve the problem at all but it will be another nail in the coffin for pubs."

Caroline Nodder, editor of The Publican, said the proposals would increase binge drinking by encouraging people to consume cheap supermarket alcohol unsupervised at home.

"The off-trade can sell alcohol a lot cheaper than the on-trade anyway. It's going to make worse the problem of people sitting at home and drinking," she added. "People who work in pubs are highly regulated and they are very carefully watching what their customers are drinking. When people are drinking at home, that's when you have got to start worrying about it. This will add to binge drinking rather than help it."

Mark Hastings, director of communications of the British Beer and Pub Association, also said a tax increase would simply force customers to seek cheaper sources of alcohol.

"Whacking up the tax rate for the entire population won't address the problem of binge drinking by a small minority of people," he said. "What you buy for £2.50 in a pub, you are buying for 50p in a supermarket. At the moment, with that divergence it would require a huge tax increase to change anything. "